Tomorrow: The SAT II's, The Next Day: The World

Tomorrow are the SAT II's (aka every students nightmare) which are some of the hardest tests I/we will ever take in my/our life/lives. I've decided (psh) to take the Global History and the Chemistry exams...The chem was probably a mistake, but we'll see what happens!!!!!!
I'm about to go study for a billion hours, so I'm not allowed to post anything super significant until they are done and I've recovered (give it a day or two).
I promise I'll be back with some great things ie. Dudamel Tribute, Opera Exam, etc. (I mentioned those before, I think.)

Until then...
Happy Listening!!! =)

PS. Wish me luck!!!!!

Ban, What Ban? Matthew Polenzani, THAT Matthew Polenzani? (Plus a "Who's Suing Who")

JDF and Peter Gelb admitted that the bis on Monday was not completely spontaneous. In fact, Peter Gelb had asked our dear Juan Diego weeks ago if he would be willing to do an encore. The rest (while also being history...) is explained in the article. We at Score Desk would also like to note that although the NY Times article says, "Before Monday night the only such occasion had been Luciano Pavarotti's repeating the second-act tenor aria in “Tosca” in 1994, Met officials said." We were not aware that Puccini had made "Vissi D'arte" an alternate for the tenor. Saying otherwise would be supposing that, in fact, the tenor aria they were referring to was in the THIRD act and therefore inferring that they got it wrong. Of course, we would never do anything of the sort.
There's also a video accompanying that article! Have fun watching it over and over!
Bernard Holland (who actually decided to attend the event he was reviewing) wrote this review about Monday's performance. While only briefly touching on the bis, he goes on to talk about tuning, the "drab" production, and Natalie Dessay's gorgeous singing. Ms. Dessay has been sadly neglected in this whole fiasco, so let's give her one unanimous pat on the back for taking it so well. No diva tantrums for this opera star!!!!!


Even after the tragic and heartbreaking death of Beverly Sills, the Beverly Sills Award is alive and well. This years recipient is the ultratalented and award-worthy Matthew Polenzani. After blowing me away in last years "Magic Flute", he captured my heart during a Sirius broadcast during which he was asked what opera character he was most like. To this question he replied, "I am most like Romeo because I have loved like that. Every day my love for my wife grows stronger." Or something to that effect, and he went on for a few minutes in that fashion. Margaret Juntwait hit the nail on the head when she said, "Every woman listening just went 'aaaahh.'" Congratulations to Matthew Polenzani! You deserve every award you get!


Who's Suing Who? (And For What?)
The Rosenblatt Recital Series is suing Erwin Schrott of Schrebko (aka. Anna's baby's daddy) because of his breach of contract for the second year in a row. He cancelled his recital (scheduled for June 11th) for unknown reasons, to the fury of Mr. Rosenblatt. He had this to say to the barihunk Schrott:

"For our audience to be treated with such gross unprofessionalism and disrespect
by Mr Schrott, on two occasions, is something that shouldn’t be
tolerated.
“This is a regrettable situation, but for the reputation of my
Series I cannot allow artists, with no lawful excuse, to renege on their
contractual commitments.
"In the seven years I’ve been running our recital
series I have been impressed time and again by the dedication of singers to
their art and their public. Singers such as Mr Schrott give opera a bad name and
a reputation for not caring for the people that pay to hear them sing.
“I am
disgusted by Mr Schrott’s callous disregard to his contractual obligations. His
behaviour is cowardly and I can only wonder if he has the guts to appear on a
London concert platform as this is the second time he’s backed out of appearing
here.”

Ouch.... I'd be angry too, but this is a full on RANT! Hey, that's my job!!!



Happy Listening!!! =)

March 1st: A Play-by-Play

Since you can't buy 3 Standing Room tickets at once one of the places was far away from the other two. None of us wanted to be by ourselves, so we squeezed into two places. That was uncomfortable. Plus, we had 3 very tall people in front of us. Still, I moved all around to see everything that happened on stage.
The minute Renee walked on I started shaking. Just shaking, nothing else. My friends grabbed my hands and said, "Oh my god, it's really really her!" They were just as amazed. Of course, the second she started singing I was almost on the floor in tears. I'm pretty over dramatic. Still... I mean think about when you first saw your favorite singer ever in the whole world. Wasn't it pretty intense? We had some classic Renee moments in there, where you just go "of that's SO Renee! The "quella parole orrEEEEENDA" for instance. There's one where i fell onto the floor (figuratively, of course). The "Ah, Emilia addio!" after the "buona notte" as another one. Her final goodbye to her friend was so touching and that note was, oh, flawless. Her acting really led the opera, if it wasn't for her half the people in the house would have been snoring. She led the cast vocally and dramatically. The Willow Song and Ave Maria brought me to tears. I'm pretty sure most other people were teary-eyed by the end also. The last scene was so intense, she was screaming when he was strangling her and everyone was on edge. And she fell off the bed and down the stairs. Ouch. It looked like it hurt and, despite her awkward position, she didn't move a muscle the whole rest of the opera. Renee Fleming is/was (yes, me and my friends have officially made it a compliment) BEASTLY.
I enjoyed John Botha. I wasn't thrilled by his singing, since I was brought up on Domingo's Otello, and his acting was just blah. Desdemona asks "You are crying?" ... I didn't see any crying, moaning, or whatever else she says he did. He just put his head against the wall. And him thrashing on the ground was nothing short of awkward. Whatever, I still enjoyed it. When he smacked Renee across the face I wanted to yell "Excuse me, no one slaps Renee around!" But I remembered "Oh duh, it's just a performance." Silly me.
I'm not sure what people's problem is with Carlo Guelfi. He sounded and looked fine in the house. He wasn't AMAZING, but I don't think he deserved some of the harsh criticism he got. It's probably one of those "sounds great in the house, but not on recording/broadcasts" situations.

Post on Carmen later...


Happy Listening!!! =)

Excuse me while I go off on a long rant about cross-over, Charlotte Church, Kiri te Kanawa, and other things...

I briefly mentioned Dame Kiri te Kanawa's small tantrum and "attack" of "opera fakes." Well now the opera fakes are fighting back!!!!! Some of it made me laugh. "Katherine (Jenkins) is looking forward to singing without a microphone in future?" "A mezzo's voice doesn't develop until she's in her early 30's?" Oh, and that's just the start! My personal favorite is: “Appreciating opera is a bit like appreciating a fine wine, sometimes you have to start with something a little light and fruity and eventually you get to your big fat burgundy.” Big...fat...burgundy? *puts hand on hip* Excuse me, who could you possibly be referring to?
They also call the crossover, popera, whatever you want to call it an "introduction" to classical music or opera. It's not. It's a substitution. Unfortunately, it is too often a substitution for opera. Do you know how many people have come up to me and said, "Oh you like opera. So, that's like Paul Potts, Charlotte Church, and Josh Groban, right?" I resisted the urge to tear out my hair. NO, THAT'S NOT WHAT IT'S LIKE.
“I can tell you now, Kiri and Pavarotti and those international singers, if it wasn’t for their compilation CDs they’d be lucky to sell in the hundreds. Now that’s the truth.”
That's another GREAT quote by "Gray Bartlett, who put Westenra on the musical map." He went on to add that Dame Kiri, THE DAME KIRI, might be jealous of the young artist's success. About the quote, who do these people think they are? Pavarotti and Kiri not singing records because the records aren't cross over? On what planet is that true? And Dame Kiri being jealous? DAME KIRI OWNS YOU. She does, really, she secretly runs the world. Why would she have any reason to be jealous of Hayley somethingorother.
I'm sorry if I seem mean or "snobbish" but these people should be jealous of KIRI, not the other way around. Just because Kiri had the determination and heart to go through years of training and those other singers evidently didn't doesn't make her a snob. This article and the "career highlights" or "mini-bio" that come at the end of the article are obviously biased and put Dame Kiri in a very unflattering light.

Dame Kiri owns the world. She rules the world. She is the world. Duh. She's amazing and everyone knows it. Her words were blunt and probably hurtful, but they were studded with truth. They may not be fake SINGERS but they are certainly fake OPERA singers. Listen to Charlotte Church's or Hayley Westenra's "O Mio Babbino Caro" and then listen to Kiri te Kanawa's and I dare you to tell me I'm wrong. They're not in the same league. They never will be. THAT'S WHY Dame Kiri was an OPERA star. She was not a popera star. These people need to get a grip and remember why exactly they are singing in halls and not in opera houses.


Happy Listening!!! =)


Oh my gosh, I'm so mean.

Gratitude

Thanks to two amazing friends, the best godfather ever, and Standing Room I will BE ABLE TO SEE RENEE IN OTELLO (this Saturday) and ALSO see Olga Borodina in Carmen that SAME EVENING.

It's too complicated to explain how it all came about. It makes my brain hurt. *ow*

That Saturday will consist of countless subway rides, one rushed lunch, a quick phone call to the Met, and one tired chickie at the end of the night. (Not necessarily in that exact order.) It will somehow all get done and I will be blogging from my cell phone (um, that's not a promise!) during the Otello intermissions, but will have a full review of the Carmen hopefully the next day.

I just have to say again that my two best friends are REALLY the BEST friends an opera buff like me could ask for and that my super amazing and totally cool godfather is, well, super amazing, totally cool, and, might I add, molto bello!!!!! =) lol

Happy Listening!!! =)

PS. To those of you that kept telling me to get Standing Room tickets, thank you as well because if everyone had not insisted then I probably wouldn't have fought as hard! Thanks! <3

Don't talk to me about the Grammy Awards....

Because they cause me to bang my head against the wall. And the Pavarotti tribute?????? Puh.lease. Opera Chic has a video clip of the tribute... that actually didn't have any real opera singers in it whatsoever. I mean, alright, that's like cool and stuff but like you know all like the other people are all like "Hey look, I'm cultured because there are people singing classical songs into a microphone and stuff."

I'm kidding, but seriously what were with some of the nominations? And some of the winners??????

Okay, okay, Lorraine won one... ONE. And Renee and Anna were both nominated for one and did either win? No.
WHAT IS "TOWER: MADE IN AMERICA" ????????? And why have I never heard of it before?

Don't get me started on the "best opera recording" nominees, loves. That's a whole other story... That will never be told. Sorry!!!


Happy Listening!!! =)

CaroNome ranted

Props to La Cieca for the sick new format and the really cool idea of finding your "birth opera." It's really fun.
One thing that caught my eye was, when I commented with my birth opera it said "CaroNome ranted:..." and then the comment. I looked around and it would say "soandso retorted" "thisperson insisted" and I thought it was so funny.
Mine is very appropriate though because I rant... A LOT. Way too much, in fact.


Happy Listening =)

PS. I completely ignored Jussi's birthday yesterday (OOPS) so I'll say it now: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Psst- We're Pretending this was posted yesterday!

Dear Renata,

Thank you for being one of the most amazing sopranos who ever lived. If only more sopranos sounded half as good as you do. We love you!

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Everyone

And Suddenly I've Found How Wonderful A Sound Can Be!!

Today we celebrate the birthday of one of the most beloved opera composers to ever live, Giacomo Puccini. He is the man whose music changed my life and I am forever indebted to him. He is also the man on my pin that I wear on my uniform blazer every day to school. My friends scrunch their faces to try and figure out who that is. “A dead guy, right?” They ask, knowing my love of history and…well…dead music people. “Yeah, a dead music guy.” They nod, “Who is he?” I don’t want to explain the whole Boheme/Rent connection for the billionth time so I just smile and say “Giacomo Puccini, which in Italian means ‘the man who changed my life.’” Suddenly they don’t seem so interested, but I don’t care because when I wear that blazer I know the whole world can see that me, a high school student, loves Puccini and loves opera. I don’t just love him for La Boheme; I love him because his aria “Nessun Dorma” made me catch the opera bug.
Puccini showed me that opera isn’t about snotty old people and fat Italian singers who break glasses with their high notes and wear breast plates, so now I’m here to show my peers that opera isn’t about any of that. Maybe if they see me with that pin they’ll see that young people can like opera also and they don’t have to be embarrassed about it. Well… that probably won’t happen, but I can try can’t I?
At one family dinner I was talking to my grandfather about “Turandot” and my aunt laughs and says “Don’t worry, dear, it’s just a phase!” I smiled at her and said “Oh, I’m not worried.” I wouldn’t say this is a phase, but a life-long passion that I’m desperate to share with others. Since my friends don’t seem interested, I made a blog instead. I think it’s been pretty successful so far. I’ve gotten the point across that I love opera, haven’t I?
So thank you, Puccini, for everything you have done for me and probably for so many other people. Oh yeah, and happy birthday! =)

Happy Listening!!! =)